Advice on conflicting records
Hi! I'm new to genealogical research, and I'm hoping to get some advice on how to proceed in sorting out some missing and conflicting info.
I'm hoping to write a book about my great-grandfather, who immigrated from Romania somewhere around 1900. His name, as recorded on his grave, was Edward La Zarr. He was a fascinating person, even if only 1/3 of the stories are true!
That's the crux of the issue. He was a master of re-invention, including reporting different information about himself for different official records. It leaves a gap of about 15 years between his arrival in the US and when he married my great-grandmother where I can't figure out where he was or what he was doing.
Some of what I've found so far:
- On his naturalization certificate from 1918, he reports that he was born in 1893 and arrived in New York on June 3, 1904, on board the ship Savoy.
- On the 1920 census, he reports that was born in 1894 and arrived in New York in 1897.
- On the 1930 census, he says he was born in 1895 and arrived in New York in 1898.
- He spells his last name Lazar, La Zar, and La Zarr. My grandmother believed his last name might originally have been Lazarovici or Lazarovitch. Edward might have been spelled Eduard, or his name might have actually been Ilia (Elijah).
- As far as anyone in the family knows, he immigrated alone, which makes the earlier dates pretty unlikely.
- The ship La Savoie, which sailed into Ellis Island frequently, wasn't built until 1900.
- I've seen a photo of him standing on the dock in front of a ship that could be La Savoie, and he looks somewhere around 10-13 years old, which would line up with his naturalization declaration that he arrived in 1904.
- But the Savoie's closest arrival in NYC to 6/4/1904 was on May 21, 1904, and there's no one with a name like his on the passenger rolls.
- A 1910 city directory from Denver around that time that lists an Edward Lazar, employed as a cigar maker. But there is no Edward Lazar on the 1910 census in Denver -- or anywhere else -- that I can find. I've searched on just the last name, and variations, and can't find any records that seem to fit.
I'd really like to know what he was doing between the time he arrived in the US and when he married my great-grandmother. There's a family rumor that he spent some time in Mississippi working for a cousin, but he was definitely established in Denver by around 1916.
Does anyone have any advice on how to proceed?